The fire this time

March 11, 1991

After a fire devastated Universal Studios last year, Pat Robertson, the preacher-politician guru of televangelism, used his Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club" as a bully pulpit: "God is going to judge the entertainment industry in Hollywood," he warned. "It's interesting that Universal -- they produced 'The Last Temptation of Christ,' which many of us thought was blasphemous in the extreme -- finds this kind of activity taking place."

But Preacher Pat, who has built his career claiming that there is but one position a "good Christian" can take on just about every political issue, fell strangely silent when a fire destroyed his radio station in Silver Spring, WNTR -- not only causing $1 million in damage, but also silencing his talk show for nearly a week. Maybe that's because Robertson's own judgment on the Universal fire might well have been applied to WNTR's fire, too: "I don't have any revelation personally," he said, referring to the possibility that God might be have been meting out punishment for blasphemy, "but it is certainly something one should consider."